Uniontown approves 2017 budget with no tax increase
UNIONTOWN — City council adopted the city’s 2017 budget at a special meeting Wednesday, with no property tax increase for city residents.
“I’m pleased to say we came together (and) cut what we needed to to keep us on the same millage as last year,” Councilman Jared Billy said. “I just ask every department next year, going into 2017, that we hold the line when we have those line items.”
As proposed last month, taxes will remain steady at 12.235 mills, or $122.35 for each $10,000 in assessed value for properties in the city. The 12.235 mills consist of 11.22684 mills for general purposes, 0.720642 mills for library purposes and 0.287523 mills for recreation.
Council also directed Mayor Bernie Kasievich to enter into an agreement with the city redevelopment authority in which the authority will reimburse the city $74,500 for a loan on a firetruck payment.
Uniontown Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Mark Rafail notified council at its December 7 regular meeting that a $78,247 firetruck payment was due at the end of the month because the city had still not received its 2015 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the state. Rafail added that the city did not have approval to draw down the unreceived funds, resulting in the redevelopment authority lacking the funds to make any such payment.
Rafail asked council to approve the city paying the entire $78,247 in full, promising that the authority will reimburse the $74,500 to the city once the state has released 2015 CDBG funding.
At its Wednesday meeting, the city redevelopment authority authorized Rafail to sign an agreement between the authority and the city in which the city will pay $75,000 to PNC Bank for the final firetruck payment. When the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) releases 2015 CDBG funding, the authority will reimburse the city the $74,500 which was budgeted for the payment at the time of the application.
At city council’s Wednesday meeting, part of which overlapped with the redevelopment authority’s meeting, Rafail projected that reimbursement would come in fewer than 90 days.
“I’d like to thank the mayor for working very hard to get the interest rate wiped,” Billy said of the firetruck payment. “(With this payment) that truck is officially paid off.”
But Billy, who said at the December 7 meeting that the redevelopment authority was responsible for not getting the correct payoff for the firetruck, indicated he was still “not OK” with the reimbursement agreement for that reason while acknowledging the city had no choice but to approve the agreement in order to avoid defaulting on a loan.
Council held a 28-minute executive session for garbage contract negotiations, which Councilman Phil Michael said also encompassed recycling.
Last week, North Union Township approved a $1 per month fee for each township property owner for recycling to help offset operating costs for the Goodwill Recycling Center. In October, South Union Township passed a resolution that would charge each resident $1 per month contingent on North Union Township and Uniontown passing a similar resolution. Uniontown has not yet passed a similar resolution.
In other business, council approved a tentative settlement per attorney-submitted terms in connection with a lawsuit filed in the case of Teresa Hann v. City of Uniontown, with a final settlement subject to approval by council. Former city clerk Kim Marshall said last year that Teresa Hann, a former secretary for the city redevelopment authority, was terminated in 2014 for data entry errors that resulted in unreliable funding figures and uninformed funding decisions.
Council’s tentative settlement approval followed a 17-minute executive session to discuss the lawsuit.
Council also:
n Heard Councilman Francis “Joby” Palumbo announce that Sherry and Charles “Bucky” Fairfax are hosting an “Annual Kids Christmas” at VFW Post 3514, 323 E. Main St. Friday at noon